4G Now

Asia-Pacific Nations Join Forces for 4G World Leadership

Asia-Pacific nations including South Korea get together in preparation for World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) that will fix the frequency band for 4G mobile communications in October.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communication of Korea (MIC), over 400 delegates from 33 member-countries of APT (Asia Pacific Telecommunity) take part in the 5th APG-07 (the APT Conference Preparatory Group for WRC-07) to be held Busan from July 16 to 21.

The APG meeting in Busan will finalize the Common Proposals of the Asia-Pacific region on 28 WRC-07 agenda items. The most important issues to be discussed are the frequency band for 4G mobile communications, frequency sharing between terrestrial and satellite services and the procedure for satellite network registration, said the Korean information ministry. The Korean ministry also promised to do its utmost to receive the outcome that represents and serves the best interests of the Asia-Pacific region from the conference.

The MIC will submit 19 proposals to the APG meeting and persuade China and Japan into supporting Korea's preferred spectrum band in finalizing the APT Common Proposals. 

DoCoMo, "Super 3G is Just a Step Away from 4G"

NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese carrier preparing for Super 3G service supporting 100 Mpbs to come in the year 2010, says it is considering a simple migration to 4G with the maximum speed of 1 Gbps for the further future.

At the Global 3G Evolution held in Japan, the company said, "By the time when Super 3G is introduced, the plug-in for 4G radio access will get ready. Simple switch of air-interface will bring in 4G.”

On the initial stage of Super 3G, the coverage will be overlaid with 3G and dual mode products will fill the transitional period. The network coverage will be expanded in accordance with the market response to Super 3G terminals, added DoCoMo.

The company expects Super 3G will start with 2GHz spectrum band and 5 (or 10) MHz spectrum bandwidth, and the operation will be small in scale for smooth system launch.

Korean Gov't Advocates 3-5 GHz for 4G

The Ministry of Information and Communication announced on Monday its determination to get fully involved in the frequency discussion for 4G, which will be fixed at the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07) to be held in Geneva in October.

To this end, the Korean information ministry will dispatch a delegation to the 21st ITU-R WP8F (Working Party 8F) in Cameroon from January 17 to 25 to represent the national interest in the negotiation.

The Korean delegation persuade member-countries and join forces with other nations to push for the 3 to 5GHz nations, added the ministry.
 
WP8F has held 20 rounds of the talks and selected 7 candidate bands for 4G including 3 bands from 800 MHz and lower, 2 from 2GHz and 2 from 3~5 GHz and prepared the report predicting the frequency demands from 1720 to1280? by 2020.

Samsung on the move to 4G

Samsung Electronics takes steady steps to develop 4G services expected to begin around 2010.

Samsung said in a statement on Thursday that it succeeded in demonstrating 4G service at Samsung 4G Forum 2006, which seamlessly transmits data at the speed of 1Gbps while standing still and at 100Mbps while on the move.

Samsung also successfully demonstrated a seamless handover that supports 100Mbps broadband service in a car running at the speed of 60km/h.

Another 4G service Samsung demonstrated at the forum was a technology enabling multi-users to download 32 HD programs at 1Gbps, use broadband Internet and video telephony while watching live broadcast of forum meetings.

The handset maker also announced a test of 8x8 MIMO(Multi Input Multi Output) that can transmit data at 3.5Gbps was successful. The speed was possible because the technology is enabled by operating 8 transmit and receive antennas at the same time. Considering that the speeds of 4G can be promised up to 1Gbps in theory, the result showed that Samsung could offer 3.5 times as fast as 4G.

Samsung said that it is doing OFDM researches in association with four universities including Harvard, participating in Air I/F(Air Interface) research in Britain and other three European nations and in 4G projects in EU, China, Japan and India.

Korea, China to Strengthen Cooperation in 4G Development

Korea and China agreed to strengthen the mutual cooperation to develop technologies for 4G telecommunications service. Ministry of Information and Communication expressed on Friday that the two countries discussed ways to develop technologies for Beyond 3G telecommunications on November 24.

According to the Ministry, the two countries also seek ways to share information and progress in standardization as well as to expand cooperation in the future.

The two countries also reached an agreement to proactively support joint R&D projects in an effort to boost cooperation in the next generation telecommunication service area and also agreed to search for other research areas to work together in the future. Additionally, Korea and China pledged to facilitate mutual discussion with the private participation regarding the vision for the next generation telecommunications, technology development and standardization, etc. at the next round of meeting.

Samsung Takes One Step Closer to 4G

Samsung Electronics announced Monday that it succeeded to demonstrate WiBro technology supporting seamless handover in the Samsung 4G Forum 2005 held at Shilla Hotel in Jeju, Korea.

Samsung achieved 20Mbps of data rate for the system and 2Mbps for the handset in a car running at 60km/hr. An official of Samsung said, “In WiBro(wireless broadband), mobility is everything. Therefore, we removed the biggest obstacle to commercializing WiBro by succeeding to realize seamless handover.”

WiBro, which is thought to be an interim step on the way to 4G, adopts All IP network architecture and has such major technologies of 4G service as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and smart antenna. It is suited for high-speed wireless data service, Samsung said.

Samsung Holds 4G Forum 2005

Samsung Electronics holds Samsung 4G Forum 2005 on August 29 and 30 in Jeju Island, the South Korean electronics maker announced on Sunday.

Globally renowned scholars in the next generation mobile communication and representatives of mobile device manufacturers, service providers and standard organization will take part in the forum. 

It is the third round of the forum which is held under the theme of “Revolution of Radio Access & Key Technology for 4G,” this time.

According to the company, participants this year will look for various ways to realize 4G technology. In particular, they will discuss 4G frequency allocation, 4G element technology development trend, the development prospect for core technology of 4G devices, market prospects for WiBro and broadband wireless connectivity.

Samsung Electronics plans to hold WiBro exhibition and public demonstration using vehicles. This will be the first open demonstration of Samsung Electronics’ WiBro technology taking place outside laboratories.